Narrative:

As a new lead on the crew I observed for the first time the installation of the right/H side stay on the right/H main gear during a stay for all landing gear replacements. I observed with great anxiety while a crew of 4 installed the side stay using nothing but their bare hands and a scissor lift. The side stay weighs 138 lbs and is awkward to handle. Meanwhile; special equipment meant to install heavy and awkward main gear parts sets to side of the hangar with a red tag stating that we are waiting for engineering to approve the use of this important and safe tool. It is my opinion the present procedures are unsafe and an accident waiting to happen and should not be attempted without the right tool for the job. In my 30 years I have had on the job injuries and the first question I always get from management is; 'what could you have done to prevent this incident?' I feel there is no excuse to the lack of cooperation and procedures to mitigate an accident certain to happen if these procedures continue unsafely.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Maintenance Lead Technician reported that Airbus A320 mechanics are unable to utilize the proper equipment to install heavy landing gear parts due to lack of engineering approval.

Narrative: As a new lead on the crew I observed for the first time the installation of the R/H Side stay on the R/H main gear during a stay for all landing gear replacements. I observed with great anxiety while a crew of 4 installed the side stay using nothing but their bare hands and a scissor lift. The side stay weighs 138 lbs and is awkward to handle. Meanwhile; special equipment meant to install heavy and awkward main gear parts sets to side of the hangar with a red tag stating that we are waiting for engineering to approve the use of this important and safe tool. It is my opinion the present procedures are unsafe and an accident waiting to happen and should not be attempted without the right tool for the job. In my 30 years I have had on the job injuries and the first question I always get from management is; 'what could you have done to prevent this incident?' I feel there is no excuse to the lack of cooperation and procedures to mitigate an accident certain to happen if these procedures continue unsafely.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.